The number that matters most is not 500. The number that matters most is 0. That is the number of major league players that have hit more home runs this season than Albert Pujols. He got a mighty sweet serenade in the visiting clubhouse in Washington on Tuesday night after he hit his 500th home run. But the Angels are not paying him a quarter-billion dollars for reminders of how great he was when he played for the St. Louis Cardinals. INTERACTIVE: Compare salaries on Angels, Nationals If that really is the classic Pujols back at-bat, that would be a big swing toward an October different from the last two, when he and the Angels stayed home and the Pujols-less Cardinals advanced deep into the playoffs.

WASHINGTON -- Albert Pujols was so wired -- and so busy talking and texting friends around baseball -- after hitting his 500th career home run Tuesday night that the Angels slugger didn't get to sleep until about 4 a.m. and managed only three or four hours of sleep, at best. “Trust me, I was trying to sleep,” Pujols said before Wednesday night's series finale against the Washington Nationals. “I knew we had a game today. I'm a bad sleeper no matter what. So, it's not that I need an excuse.

WASHINGTON - The Angels won't be traveling back in time Wednesday night, but it might feel that way. Instead of flying to New York after their game against the Washington Nationals, they will board a chartered Amtrak train in the nation's capital and ride the rails to Penn Station. “I'm excited, man,” reliever Joe Smith said. “It's like the movie 'The Natural,' when everybody was taking the train. It's one of those forgotten things. I know the stories the older guys tell me, and they say it's a lot of fun. It's something different from getting on a plane.

In the battle for tourists, Los Angeles is losing ground to rivals Orlando, Fla., New York, and Chicago. L.A. County has broken its own record for annual visitors three years in a row - thanks to a rebounding economy, sunny California weather and popular tourist attractions. But L.A.'s tourist numbers are not growing fast enough to keep up with the nation's top three destinations, primarily because the city lacks enough hotel rooms to host more tourists. "We have an awful lot of things that are in our favor," said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

WASHINGTON - Albert Pujols didn't hit his 500th home run in front of a hometown crowd, but at least he was able to hit it to an Angels fan. Tom Sherrill, a 29-year-old Air Force staff sergeant from Pomona who is in town for computer training, retrieved the ball Pujols hit for his milestone homer into the left-center field seats in Nationals Park and presented it to the Angels slugger after the game. “I've been an Angels fan for 20 years, and I had no intentions other than to give the ball to Albert,” Sherrill said.

AT THE PLATE: J.B. Shuck led off the game with a double to left field and Mike Trout reached on an error ahead of Albert Pujols' three-run home run. Howie Kendrick, who had two hits, doubled to right-center field in the first and scored on Chris Iannetta's two-out single to left for a 4-0 lead. Trout singled ahead of Pujols' 500th home run, in the fifth, and Erick Aybar, who had three hits Monday night, doubled to left for his second hit, stole second and scored on David Freese's sacrifice fly in the eighth.

April 22, 2014 | By Mike DiGiovanna, This post has been updated. See the note below for details.

WASHINGTON - Some 18,000 men have played major league baseball since 1876, and only 26 of them have hit 500 home runs in their career. Albert Pujols joined that exclusive club Tuesday night when he crushed career home run No. 500, a two-run shot to left-center field in the top of the fifth inning off Washington pitcher Taylor Jordan in Nationals Park. Pujols hit his 499 th homer in the first inning, a towering three-run shot to left field off Jordan, and No. 500, which gave the Angels a 6-2 lead, cleared the Angels' bullpen in left-center.

WASHINGTON - At some point, probably after a few more runners are gunned down on the basepaths, opponents may stop testing the throwing arm of Angels outfielder J.B. Shuck. That point has apparently not arrived yet. Washington Nationals catcher Jose Lobaton drove a ball into left-center field in the third inning Monday night and did not even hesitate around first base. Shuck, playing left field, raced to that gap, backhanded the ball and fired a firm strike in the air to second baseman Howie Kendrick for his second outfield assist of the season.

KEY MOMENT: Raul Ibanez's three-run triple in the eighth inning was the decisive blow, but it would not have been possible if not for Erick Aybar's clutch two-out, run-scoring hit to right field that pulled the Angels even, 1-1, and Chris Iannetta's walk that loaded the bases for Ibanez. AT THE PLATE: Aybar, who entered with a .175 average, also singled sharply to right field in the second and doubled to right in the fourth, the three-hit game lifting his average to .209.

The event: “Spring Break: Destination Education,” staged carnival style at Sony Studios in Culver City, was a star-studded affair that had tweens, teens and their families lining up half an hour early on Saturday. The fourth annual event raised a record-breaking $1.5 million for City Year Los Angeles . The Hollywood hosts: Shemar Moore of “Criminal Minds” posed nearly nonstop for photos, hoisting one guest on his shoulders for a shot. Julie Bowen of “Modern Family” sang the praises of City Year corps members, who devote a year of their lives to serve as tutors, mentors and role models to students who might otherwise drop out of school.